The present invention relates to power tools.
Power miter saws that are used by trim carpenters, artisans and woodworkers are becoming ever more sophisticated as a result of continuing research and development efforts on the part of commercial manufacturers. Relatively recent developments include compound miter saws having extremely large blades that can cut miter and bevel angles on large pieces of stock, such as relatively wide crown and other types of molding. Still more recent developments include sliding compound miter saws which have a blade and engine assembly which can slide on rails toward the user after engaging the work piece, which enables large size stock to be cut at various miter and bevel angles using the well known conventionally sized smaller blades. Such sliding compound miter saws are extremely useful and convenient for performing accurate cuts on large sized trim pieces and other stock, particularly in the home building business sector.
Regardless of whether sliding compound or regular miter saws are used, the more recent compound miter saw designs typically include detents for common settings that are required for miter angles for various types of trim and other carpentry work. Specific bevel and miter angles are commonly used for cutting trim pieces for inside and outside corners in either a vertical or horizontal orientation, as well as to cut trim pieces for inside and outside corners of crown molding, for example.
It is also known by experienced and competent artisans that small variations in the resulting angles of a 90° inside or outside corners can occur during construction, which require some angular compensation in order for the trim pieces to mate in a tight seam. This is usually effectively accomplished only by those individuals who have solid knowledge and experience. Such knowledgeable artisans may often wish to adjust either a miter angle or a bevel angle or both to produce a desirable result and such adjustments may be less than a single degree from the known or expected angles. While conventional miter saws typically have such angular markings for setting miter as well as bevel angles, it is not always easy to lock in desired settings or to accurately differentiate such small angles.